You asked for it::

Homemade Yogurt:

Begin with:
1 cup room temperature plain yogurt with live and active cultures. (check the label, it’ll be towards the bottom on the side of the container.) It HAS to be LIVE so you can grow it.
1 gallon whole milk.

Supplies: 1 large pot. 1 heating pad. 1 candy thermometer. 1 wisk, 1 blender (its easier with a hand held). Cheese cloth (I have 2 ‘cloths’ and I make sure it has 4 ply total before I strain it).

Directions:
Pour gallon of milk in pot. Slowly raise temperature to 185-200degrees. Be sure to wisk often and put your candy thermometer in often to really keep tabs on the temp. Don’t burn the bottom, you’ll ruin the whole thing. Just baby sit it, its not but 10 mins. Then drop your temp down to 110 (90-120) in a cold water bath. I just fill my sink up half way with cold water. I put the pot in my sink…in the cold water and still wisk it…checking the temperature often. At about 120, I put in my yogurt. I wisk it in so there isn’t any lumps. Be sure and set your yogurt on the counter so its not so cold when you add it. It really drops the temp of your milk…more than you’d think…and it also provides a more stable transition for that culture to grow.
After you wisk it in, make sure your temp is okay, then I dry off the pot, and put it on top of my heating pad. I put the heating pad on high..and it keeps it at a constant 110 degrees. It doesn’t seem to matter if you have a standard one or the extra long one…still keeps it at a nice constant temp. I set the pot in the middle of it, lid on, thermometer in , then wrap the remaining up on the sides, then I cover it with a bath towel to incubate it.
I then wait 5-7 hrs…dependant on how thick and how tangy you want it. After 7 hrs, it just gets thicker and tangier. Do NOT stir or move your pot after you set it to incubate…those bacteria need a stable place to grow and if you mess with it, the surface area grows, and it causes the bacteria not to proliferate as much (cause it has more surface area to set up shop on). So no stirring…just wrap it up in the heating pad (I just found it easier to maintain a constant 110 temp this way…way more benign than a crock pot or the stove or oven) and leave it alone until around 6 hrs.
After about 6-7 hrs you’ll peak in your pot and its warm yogurt. Smell it…smells good ;-) Take off the lid, turn off the heating pad. Pour your yogurt through 4 layers of cheese cloth…it will separate your whey from your curd. The whey is a clear light yellow fluid that will drain off. If you are getting something that isn’t clear…theres something wrong. ;-) I leave it for about an hour. Sometimes I use a colander to lay my cheese cloth in and sometimes I package up my cheese cloth by the 4 corners and hang it from somewhere…the gravity sure separates that fast…its nice. It’s a good idea to keep your whey, just in case you’ve over strained your curd…you can always reconstitute it to get your desired consistency.
After a bit… OR you can do it overnight if you want some thick yogurt (just put it in the fridge to drain of course lol). I do mine about an hour or two. Heck, you don’t even have to do it at all if you don’t want to….it just won’t be as thick or creamy. Its all in what your desired outcome is. If you don’t cheese cloth it…it will turn out kinda like drinkable yogurt.
After you’ve decided how long you want to separate your yogurt, then blend it. It will be kinda chunky..and it doesn’t stick to the cheese cloth much really. Get your hand held (immersion) blender out. Dump your yogurt in a big bowl….then blend it. I’ve also used a traditional blender, and it works just fine, but its messier and you dirty more dishes and you also lose some of your yogurt.
Now you should have some yummy warm creamy yogurt. Put it in the fridge. It will set up a bit getting cold too. So don’t make your yogurt TOO thick when its warm, cause it’ll be like cream cheese when it cools lol.

Good luck, any questions, please ask. ;-)
Oh, yeah, how to flavor it. I’ve been mixing it with my home made low sugar jam and its DIVINE!! Also, I have mixed vanilla extract with corn syrup…then added it…its not bad. You can flavor it any way you want. If you think of it…try it. We also sometimes add granola… its seriously like dessert.
Will keep refrigerated 7-10 days. But we never get that far…always eaten up within a few days.
Oh , and you wont need to buy anymore yogurt. Before your batch is all eaten, reserve some and start a new batch from your old batch…it only takes about a cup. So you just keep rolling over your yogurt….no extra expense…OH…$...lets talk…
Price breakdown:
Milk: 2$ per gallon. I can make between 2 and 3 32 ounce tubs (the big yogurt tubs…not the small cups). They are roughly about 3 bucks a piece. So you are paying 2$ for 9$ worth of yogurt. You also aren’t getting any fillers or preservatives either. (Take a look at your Yoplait’s of the world…they thicken it with gelatin and corn starch.). Homemade yogurt is a FAR superior product and it tastes better…oh and it’s cheaper to boot.
I actually taste tested them side by side in my home. I always though Yoplait was the best…then I compared it with my own. I‘ll probably never buy that stuff again. My kids know its better too…they are ALWAYS…as in EVERY day…asking for some. We make a batch every few days here. And it seriously isn’t a big deal. I thought it would be too much work, but its not. Experiment around and see which way you like it best….